Shredder for Shredding Recyclable Industrial Waste

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to a shredder comprising a hopper in which industrial waste is deposited. The base of the hopper is equipped with a waste-shredding rotor, while one of the longitudinal edge thereof, which are parallel to the axis of the hopper outlet, is equipped with a longitudinal row of fixed blades which are distributed uniformly along said edge. According to the invention, spaces are provided between the aforementioned blades to enable the passage of moving blades which are mounted to the rotor by means of supports. In addition, half of the fixed blades are disposed at a greater height than the other half, using an alternating arrangement, such that the moving blades act first on one half of the blades and immediately thereafter on the other half, thereby producing a scissors-type effect which facilitates cutting and extends the useful life of such blades.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

This invention concerns a shredder which has been specially designed tocarry out the initial treatment of recyclable industrial waste such astyres, aluminium frames, wood panels, domestic appliances, electronicscrap material, electric conductors etc. specifically at the shreddingstage for subsequent separation of their components.

The object of the invention is to obtain a practically universalshredder, that is, one which is able to shred a varied selection ofmaterials, according to their nature and size, with minimum wear of thecutting tools and with easy maintenance, with the addition of excellentperformance from a functional or operational perspective.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

There are various different types of shredders on the market which aremainly restricted in terms of the fact that each is designed for aspecific type of product to be shredded, so that if the specificapplication is changed for any reason or if there is a need to shreddifferent types of products in the shredder, its performance is reduced,and greater maintenance is required, resulting from breakage orpremature wear of the cutting tools, which leads to stoppages in theproduction process with the associated exploitation costs that thisentails.

There are also problems in shredding large scale objects such asagricultural tyres, or those used in civil engineering work

Another frequent problem is the agglomeration of material to be shreddedin the shredding chamber due to the effect of the force applied to thecutting tools which then causes the machine to jam.

The maintenance operations for changing the cutting tools tend to beslow and laborious and in addition, wear, mechanical deformation,dirtiness of the shredding zone and fitting parts which need to bechanged, considerably hinder replacement operations.

There is a high level of wear in specific components of the machines,particularly in the shredding zone, such as metal plates, rotor, etc.

All this leads to a low shredding capacity in these machines, as inorder to avoid mechanical deformation or considerable wear, it isnecessary to work at low power and as a result the shredding capacity issimilarly diminished.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The shredder proposed in this invention resolves in a fully satisfactorymanner all the various aspects mentioned in the problems expressedabove.

Therefore, in a more specific manner and using the basic structure of aconventional shredder, which includes a hopper which holds therecyclable waste, the base of which contains a duly motorised rotor, thecharacteristics of this shredder are based fundamentally on theaforementioned rotor, and more specifically on the cutting elementswhich are included and which collaborate with it, constituting theactual shredding elements which act with a “scissors” effect, maximisingthe effectiveness of the shredder.

Specifically, on one of the sides of the lower opening of the hopper,the one on which rotor blades act at the outlet of the hopper, there area number of fixed blades, distributed with a convenient distance betweeneach other in order to permit the moving blades associated with therotor to pass between them, and which have two significantcharacteristics, on one hand, their upper or operating edges are set atdifferent heights so that by means of an alternating arrangement inrespect to higher or lower blades, optimum distribution of effort isachieved, the cutting effect does not occur simultaneously on all ofthem but first on one half and then the other, which for the sameapplied power results in a greater effectiveness and capacity ofshredding, while at the same time, and complementary to this effect,these fixed blades are attached by means of screws, the heads of whichare embedded in the blades themselves, and therefore those heads are notsubject to any wear or mechanical deformation and thus in turn thisconsiderably facilitates their dismantling during maintenance tasks.

These blades also have various useful surfaces, so that by simplychanging their position, their useful life may be extended with theconsequent reduction in maintenance costs.

In accordance with another of the characteristics of the invention, thepower is applied to the rotor by two identical motors which, by means ofreducing gears which are also identical, transmit movement to the driveaxle on both ends in a completely homogeneous manner, thus avoidingasymmetric wear of the gears.

Each motor is coupled to the corresponding gear by means of an elasticcoupling which avoids any problems due to “knocking” between the rotorand the shredder stator which may occur during shredding.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order to complete the present description and to help provide abetter understanding of the characteristics of the invention, inaccordance with a preferential example of the practical embodiment ofthe same, a set of drawings is attached hereto by way of illustration asan integral part of this description and in no way restrictively,representing the following:

FIG. 1—Shows a diagram with an elevational view of a shredder forshredding industrial recyclable waste manufactured in accordance withthe object of the present invention.

FIG. 2—Shows a profile of the same shredder

FIG. 3—Indicates a plan view of the shredder shown in the previousfigures

FIG. 4—Shows an enlarged detail, also in plan view, of the powertransmission system to the rotor of the shredder.

FIG. 5—Shows a detail in cross section: at the lower level of thehopper, specifically at the rotor location.

FIG. 6—Shows a diagram of the detailed area of the previous figurecorresponding to the location of the fixed blades where their differentheight levels can be observed.

FIG. 7—Shows a plan view and a section of a fixed blade.

FIG. 8—Shows a similar representation to FIG. 7 but that correspondingto a moving blade.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION

In the light of the figures indicated it may be seen how the shredderproposed in this invention incorporates the essential hopper (1) fordepositing the industrial waste to be shredded, with a lateral groove(2) at its opening which facilitates the deposit of the waste inside thehopper (1) which, together with its accompanying mechanisms, rests on abedplate (3) which appropriately elevates it above ground, a maintenanceplatform (4) being located next to it which is accessed with a stepladder (5).

In the lower opening of the hopper (1) the rotor (6) is located, whichreceives movement from both ends, supplied by the respective electricmotors (7-7′) which, by means of elastic couplings (8-8′) supplymovement to the mechanical and symmetrical reducing gears (9-9′), theaxle arrangement of which is schematically represented in FIG. 2,reducing gears (9-9′) which are finally and by means of mechanical rigidcouplings (10-10′), fixed to the respective ends of the axle (11) of therotor (6).

In the lower opening (12) of the hopper (1), where the rotor (6)operates and specifically in one of the edges parallel to this, thereare a number of fixed blades (13) such as the blade represented indetail in FIG. 7, which are attached by means of screws which passthough holes (14) and whose heads are embedded in the blades themselves(13) specifically in widenings (15) of those holes (14) so that theheads will remain clear of the working area of the shredder, andperfectly protected in the groove (15).

These fixed blades (13) are uniformly distributed along the edge of theentrance (12) to the hopper (1), leaving empty spaces between each other(16) for the passage of the moving blades (17), which shall be describedbelow.

In addition, and as may be seen in FIG. 6, the fixed blades (13) are setat different heights, so that the moving blades (17) firstly attack onehalf of the fixed blades (13) and immediately after attack the otherhalf, so that as the blades (13) of one and the other height arealternately arranged as may be seen in FIG. 6, an improvement thecutting effect is achieved, specifically the aforementioned “scissors”effect, as at all times a moving blade (17) acts on a fixed blade (13)and subsequently on the other.

Returning once more to the moving blades (17), these are mounted on thefront of the respective supports (18) in the form of a half moon, dulyattached to the rotor (6) so that the moving blades (17) are noticeablyparallel to the fixed blades (13) at the moment of cutting, with theaforementioned moving blades (17) attached to their supports (18) bymeans of screws (19) the heads of which are equally embedded andprotected inside the blades, thus not being subject to any wear ormechanical deformation.

The moving blades (17) are also mounted slightly out of phase as may beseen specifically in FIG. 4 in order to participate in theaforementioned “scissors” effect.

1. A shredder for shredding industrial recyclable waste of the typewhich incorporates a hopper to receive said waste, in the bottom oroutlet of which there is a rotor, which is appropriately motorised andwhich has moving blades which collaborate with fixed blades arranged onone of the edges of the aforementioned outlet opening parallel to therotor axle, wherein the aforementioned fixed blades are uniformlydistributed along the edge, defining spaces between each other for thepassage of the moving blades, which the special particularity that thefixed blades are set, with the special particularity that the fixedblades are set differently in terms of height, specifically half of thembeing disposed in an alternate arrangement with half the blades at aposition noticeably higher than the outer half in order to ensure thatthe moving blades act firstly on half of the fixed blades andimmediately after on the other half, thus obtaining a “scissors” effectwhen cutting the waste.
 2. Shredder for shredding recyclable industrialwaste according to claim 1, wherein both the fixed blades and the movingblades are attached using screws whose heads are embedded in the bladesthemselves, in areas of the blades which are subject to wear ormechanical deformation during normal operation of the shredder. 3.Shredder for shredding recyclable industrial waste according to claim 1,wherein the distance between the fixed blades is slightly superior tothe width of the moving blades in order to diminish the wear on these,to facilitate cutting and to avoid build-up of the product.
 4. Shredderfor shredding recyclable industrial waste according to claim 1, whereinthe blades have various useful surfaces which, by changing theirpositions, an extension of their useful life is obtained.
 5. Shredderfor shredding recyclable industrial waste according to claim 1, whereinthe rotor receives movement at both ends from two motors, preferentiallyelectric, through respective reducing gears, also identical, in such away that the mechanical force applied to the rotor is identical at bothends, avoiding asymmetric wear of the reducing gears.
 6. Shredder forshredding recyclable industrial waste according claim 5 wherein eachmotor is coupled to the corresponding reducing gear by means of anelastic coupling, while each reducing gear is attached to thecorresponding end of the axle of the rotor by means of a rigidmechanical coupling.